Consequences of Choices
by feli-chan
Summary: Hinata was determined to move on with her life. Be a stronger kunoichi. Forget her childhood crush. Find another man. NejiHina. CHAPTER 5 UP!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Neji, Hinata…or anybody else in the Nauto universe…I sure wish I did, but I don't…

**Chapter 1**

"Umm… I don't know what to say, Hinata. It's just I never think of that, you know… I never think that you love me or anything like that," he said with shock apparent in his face about her confession of love earlier.

"I-is that so, Naruto-kun… then… so…" she said ever so slowly, trying her best to keep her voice and face straight showing no sign of weakness to him. She stopped when she heard him say…

"I always think of you as a nice fri- um…girl… I like you, I like talking with you. I really do. We've known each other for years, but I never… you know, think that you… I'm sorry, Hinata" he said in a low voice.

"T-That's okay, Naruto-kun. I can understand" she smiled at him, blinking the tears away from her milky eyes. She got to be strong now.

"Hey, but we still can be friends, right?" his voice was back to his usual cheerful mode and he smiled at her cheekily. Obviosly trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

"S-sure. Of course, we can still be friend, Naruto-kun" she replied faintly, her lips were struggling to give another smile at him, but it failed miserably. "By the way, I-I have to go now. I have some other things to do… umm I'll see you later, Naruto-kun" she bit her lips to stop it from quivering and walked away from the clearing in the edge of the forest.

"Hinata…wait. Let me walk you back to the village. It's getting dark now." He said and walked to her direction.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun. I'm fine, I can go by myself" she gave another faint smile to him. "I'm fine."

"But, Hinata…"

"Bye, Naruto-kun" with that she quickened her pace and left that place.

Naruto stood there still not knowing what to do, he wanted to walk with her back to the village but he didn't want to coerce her either. All he could do was watched her back disappeard in the distance.

She leaped from roof to roof, avoiding her usual path. She really didn't want to meet anyone right now. Not when she was like this. Every time her tears run down to her cheek, she wiped it with her sleeve but it kept flowing. She hated it. She hated to be weak. Well, they said that tears is the evidence of weakness. But she couldn't help it now. All that she wanted to do now was just curl up in her bed and crying all night.

As she was near to her house, she slowed her pace. She entered the house from a smaller covert gate, not her usual main-gate-route, and sneaked to her room quietly, hoping that no one would she her like this. She was just too tired to even say hello if she met someone.

Lucky for her, she came into her rom safely. Then she could finally do what she had in mind after she left the clearing, after her talk with Naruto. She crawled into her bed not bothering to take off her clothes, too exhausted to do that, cuddling her soft pillow tightly to her chest. She buried her face in the pillow and cried.

Some knocks in her door woke her up from her sleep. She was surprised that she could fall asleep in the first place. Maybe her emotional pain was too much to bear with. She felt too drowsy to answer, so she pretended not to hear anything, hoping that the knocking-person will leave quickly. But then,

"Hinata-sama are you there?" then another knock was heard.

No wonder the knock was persistent. It was her cousin. She had no other choice but to answer him. However before she could say anything she heard him again.

"It's your father. He asked you to come for dinner" he said impatiently.

"Im sorry, Neji-niisan… but I'm not feeling too well right now. I-I think I just have dinner in my room" she said sitting her bed now, taking this situation more seriously. Maybe her father was going to ask her about her absence tonight, but she could worry about that tommorow.

"If you say so, Hinata-sama" he speak shortly then leave her door.

She sighed, stood up reluctanly and walked to the bathroom removing all her clothes and turned the hot water. She liked the sensation of hot water pouring on her cold skin. A nice soothing shower to wash away all her tears and fatigue. She felt like she could shower forever, maybe that's too much, but it really did help her to get into the mood. She continued shower for a little bit longer before she stepped out of the bathroom in her bathrobe and a towel to dry her hair.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror, convinced that she looked much better than a few hours ago. But her eyes was still all red and puffy. Anyway its not like she was going to meet someone right now. So she ignored it.

Another knock on her door today brought her back to her senses.

"Yes?"

"Hinata-sama, I'm here to bring your dinner" it was one of the Hyuuga maid. She told her to come in and put the dinner on her bedside table, her back facing her. She didn't want to be seen in her condition now, cause it would be embarassing and every one would start asking what had happened to her. And that was the last thing she wanted to talk about right now. She said "thank you" before the maid closed her door and leaving her to herself again.

She didn't feel like eating so she just let it there on the bedside table and crawled in her bed once again. But this time she was more relaxed, big thanks to the shower. But once again, her mind was wandering to Naruto again. She should have known that he would never feel the same way about her, maybe deep down in her heart she knew but she chose to ignored it. And now the consequence was this pain in her her chest she had been feeling for the past few hour.

"At least… now I know…" she whispered to herself.

She blinked tears away from her eyes. See, this was what happen when she thought about it all over again. She knew that she should stop thinking of it, but she couldn't do it. It was like a movie clip that running in her head over and over again. Getting iritated with the way her mind was working, she blinked her eyes again, hoping that she could get rid of that awful movie. She covered one pillow to her head and closed her eyes. After a few minutes she was finally asleep.

_tbc…_

Hi, this is my second fic, hope you guys like it. It's only the first chapter so nothing much happened, so read and review! If you find any error, this was unBeta, feel free to tell me. I'd love to hear them!

Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Neji, Hinata…or anybody else in the Naruto universe…I sure wish I did, but I don't…

_italics_ – thought

Concequences of Choices: Chapter 2

Hinata lied awake on her bed enjoying her silent moment. She woke up about an hour before but too lazy to get out from her comfort bed. Life would be perfect if she just lay like this no need to rush on doing everything, or no scold when she got late attending something. But, of course something like that would never going to happen to her. She was no princess. She grazed on her the clock on the bedside table and

'URGHH NO' it was time to go already.

She didn't have much time to get ready for her activity today, training with her cousin. She was going to get scolded if she came late. Her cousin was very strict about discipline. She got dress quickly and went to the kitchen bringing the tray of her untouched dinner and placed it on the table then had a bite of toast and drunk a glass of water quickly. After that she ran to the training ground. Her cousin was already there doing some warm up movements. She slowed her pace standing a few feet away behind him, watched his every moves with amazement. Was she ever be able to move perfectly just like he did every time he demonstrate a new technique for her to do. Not in a million years. But, at least she had tried her best in her days of training with him, to meet his (high) standards.

"Hinata-sama, you're here finally," his voice brought her back from her daydream-land. He stood still in front of her, his back facing her, finished all his warming up movements just a second ago when she was still drown in her thought. Looking up at him she gave an apologetic smile and said, "Sorry, I'm late Neji-niisan."

"That's alright. Let's start now." he said indifferently then motioned her to come beside him. He studied her feature for a few seconds without her knowing it, realized that something was different with her today. He set aside that idea quickly, since that was absolutely none of his business.

"Hai," was her short answer.

She activated her Byakugan, discovered his chakra concentration points promptly then proceeded to attack. She aimed to hit the pressure points at his arm, her moves was elegant and flowing. He dodged her attack easily then continued to strike back at her.

They continued to spar for some times, he wanted to know how much she had developed since their last training, couple of weeks ago. His moves were fast and directed to her critical organs, she tried to block it every now and then and sent some punch to his direction but to no avail, the attack in his technique was perform at a much higher speed than the 64 Palms, making it even dangerous. Thinking that she couldn't take it anymore, she retreated. Hands on her chest. Breathing heavily and sweating.

He stopped in process, walked closer to her. "What happened Hinata-sama? Got tired already?" he asked her casually, no hint of exhaustion in his voice. She looked up at him, said nothing to calm down her breathing.

"Gomen, Neji-niisan… but-but you moved so fast… I can barely see your strike." she managed to answer him honestly after a few minutes. He gave her a frustration look, studied her feature closely and seriously making her uneasy. She opened her mouth but then closed it again, considered that it would better if she just listened to him now. She was so exhausted to argue at the moment.

"That's too bad, Hinata-sama. We still have 20 minutes left and I don't want to waste it," Anyway she was not surprised with his answer. She knew it that he was going to say something like that. She sighed, today's training was surely tough.

"But we'll work on your endurance now, we have enough sparring for today. Besides we don't have much time left for a new technique."

He joined her to run a few laps around the Hyuuga compound. She was always being worn out after the training session with her cousin. Either he pushed her too hard or she was just too weak to keep up with him. Who was she kidding with, of course she couldn't keep up with him, not with the infamous Hyugaa prodigy.

He trained her infrequently, because he was busy with his mission and other assignment as Jounin. It was because of her father request to train her that he was training her now. Maybe it was just once in a week or two, or even months when he was away for a long high risk mission. A few hours of training with him was harder than all week training with her team mates put together. It wasn't that she didn't get all serious when she trained with Kiba-kun and Shino-kun, it was just she always became anxious around him and an awkward situation wasn't help her to improve the new technique he taught. She felt so stupid. The fact that her cousin was about to kill her during the chuunin exam four years ago was no longer an issue for her since he already apologized to her and she forgave him saying that it was exam situation and she could understand how he felt at that time or maybe she was just too kind.

However he was Hyuuga Neji after all. He was less unfriendly and warmed up to her than his old self yet it seemed that he was still so far away. Which means never got a change to have a pleasant chat or convivial or in this matter brother-sister-ly conversation.

After a few laps, he ended their training. She was already worn out, her legs wobbled it could barely hold her body. He handed her a towel, which took her by surprise, but she took it anyway, maybe he was just trying to be nice to her.

"I think it's enough for today, Hinata-sama. We'll continue our training tomorrow." his words echoed in her ear.

"We have to t-train again t-tomorrow, Neji-niisan?" she asked him for not believing her ears, because they just never train in row like this.

"Yes, we'll train again tomorrow. Is that a problem, Hinata-sama?" he furrowed his brow hearing her question.

"No, it's not like that," she was unsure what to say next but she nodded her head and said "hai".

"I think you have improved, Hinata-sama. But your endurance… you need to work more on that. You'll get killed easily by your enemy if you can't fight them just because you're too exhausted to do so. Endurance is vital. If you get tired, you lose. Understand that, Hinata-sama." she thought that her cousin was always having a good time lecturing her in the end of their training.

"I-I'm sorry, Neji-niisan." he was always like that, first he spoke well about her progress then he criticized her meticulously. And she would end up saying sorry to him.

"Don't be sorry Hinata-sama. Just try to do better next time." he said briefly.

"I-I'm ss… Thank you for your advice, Neji-niisan," oops, thanks god she didn't say sorry again, or else maybe he would lash out at her.

He dismissed her. End of the training for today. She sighed, felt relieved.

She returned to her room to get another shower to wash away all the sweat and dirt. It was already noon when she finished. She laid on her bed thinking about her training with Neji today. She wished that she was a stronger and better kunoichi so that her family would not look down on her. She wished that she could stand in line with the other Konoha ninjas and also her cousin. She had trained hard in the last four years but she still felt the same weak and hopeless. Then again, after the lost of her childhood dream in the form of Uzumaki Naruto she came to the same conclusion that she was no good in everything she did. But a person was born for a reason, right. And she definitely was born for a reason. So her life wasn't going to be miserable forever like what she had gone through. But a girl could change right. Although she no longer had a dream at this moment she could still find another dream. Something that made her worth living. Something that would make her happier. Even so it sounded impossible to her own ears. She sighed sleepily, closed her eyes trying to get some sleep before dinner, but her stomach growled in protest, that forced her to get up from her bed and paced feebly to the kitchen.

Entered the kitchen she startled to find Neji eating quietly.

"Good afternoon, Neji-niisan," she greeted him. He just nodded his head. She looked around the room to find something what left for lunch.

"There's some food left in the box above the microwave. I think it's for you because you missed lunch." he pointed the direction with his finger and continued eating.

"Thank you, Neji-niisan. Do you mind if I join you here?"

She wasn't sure why she said that she could just take the box and ate it in her room. But no, she didn't do that. To polite to do that. Okay, it wasn't like eating with the enemies, she told herself. Then there she was in the kitchen with her cousin, both eating silently. They sat facing each other but no words exchanged. Another awkward situation. _Neji-niisan, why it was always so hard to find my voice, my courage when you were near? _

There, in the kitchen two cousins sat against each other, but no words were spoken.

_tbc…_

A/N: So that's the second chappie. This was stil unbeta, if you find grammatical errors here and there please bear with me… Feedbacks for this chapter are much appreciated.

and thank you to all who read and reviewed the first chapter, especially for Krysti Ryou Auzuki for being nit-picky and all (did you get my email?) .


	3. Chapter 3

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Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.

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Hinata sat alone in her room, a cup of tea in front of her. She stirred the tea and drank the content slowly. It was amazing how a cup of warm green tea mixed with lime flavored honey affected her. She used to drink it every time she need to relax, usually after a nasty day of training and a cup of green tea in the afternoon was enough to heal her sore muscles, but today she had different reason, she just got back from a mission today, in which, she was pretty proud of her self, she didn't screw. It wasn't a typical mission with her teammates, in that mission she was working with Naruto and Chouji. The Hokage said that in the mission several unique abilities are required so that was why she chooses those three. But she knew better, the reason why the Hokage put them together because there was no other ninja available at that moment. Shino and his dad was away on a mission, Kiba couldn't go because Akamaru's leg was injured in their last mission. As for Chouji, he was left out by his teammates because he was sick so he couldn't join the mission with his teammates.

A mission with Naruto was not her choice, not after her confession to him, at least not this soon. But it was the Hokage's order and she did have nothing to do, except for her private training with Neji. With Naruto being so close to her for days she couldn't help but feeling rather uneasy, awkward, and nervous around him. But Naruto was actually nice to her, and treat her just like nothing was happen between them, but then again there was never been anything between them. She was glad that Naruto still want to be friends with her. She couldn't deny that she still felt something for him, but her logic keep reminding her that the closest relationship she could have with him is to be his friend. Except that she found it so hard to pretend that she wanted to be just his friend.

She still had so many things to think about without Naruto added to the list. Her training was getting much, so much difficult and hard than before. When she recall, this had been going on for weeks now. Sometimes it was just so boring working for the same technique over and over again and yet she hadn't mastered it. Lack of confidence, her cousin once said. The question was how she could be more confident with herself. She was always been the shy, stuttering Hyuuga Hinata. She didn't have the flamboyant nature of the Hyuuga, couldn't speak her feeling audaciously. She couldn't quite understand it, she grew up in the luxury as the Hyuuga heir, and everyone treated her respectfully, bow their head so low when they met her, asking her if she, in any way, need their help. As long as she remembered, she always felt uncomfortable with that kind of treatment toward her. She thought that she didn't deserve that, for she hasn't done anything substantial for the clan. But they said that just how it was supposed to be.

Her mind wandered to her training again. She had to do something to perfect her technique. Confident, like every other Hyuuga would ever be. Her father, her sister, and her cousin were all self assured person. If that was the case she just had to be confident like them, right? But again, how she supposed to do that, if being confident mean that she has to be like one of them, then that was a hard thing to do. His father was such a formal person, civil, never had he done anything clumsy. Her sister, though she was a few years younger than herself, had shown elegance of a Hyuuga. Her cousin, well, the genius. He was the role model for most of her younger cousins. She overheard some of her younger cousins saying about wanting to be strong like Neji a few days ago. Actually she heard that kind of talk more than once. Neji was strong, reliable, and sort of nice too (sometimes), yet he was still kind of haughty, or maybe haughtiness was a Hyuuga-thing.

And of course Naruto, he was a confident person too, but he was also nice with everyone else. He always made people around him happy. She smiled on the thoughts of their missions, how he never wanted to be only the second best. Like in their 'Treasure Hunting' mission when they were 12 years old, he didn't want to follow Kiba's direction and preferred to have his own way, it was full of twists and turns and although Kiba had more logical way of thinking, she was walking another way with Naruto, because she wanted to be around him all the time. Yeah, Naruto was such a confident person, friendly, he really cared for his friends, loud, but she liked the loud and genki Naruto. Whenever he was around, she always felt so happy that she couldn't speak to him without the entire stutter and nervous. She was shy, yes, but it doubled with Naruto near. Everything about him made her madly in love with him.

He would be a good role model for her to boost her self-confident, but no… She need to stay away from Naruto for the time being.

Thanks for her weeks of training most of her time was spent inside the Hyuuga compound, she had a something else to think instead of her heartbreaking. A nice full week to just lay in bed and do nothing, that would do her good actually, time to think it over again, but she couldn't simply do something like that, because her family would start asking and annoy if it wasn't out of worry.

On the way to the kitchen, she spotted her cousin on the training ground, doing some new stance, she had never seen before. She looked at him in mild incredulity for some time, he was indeed live up to the name of the Hyuuga genius. His moves were precise. He told her that he didn't have much time to supervise her training all the time. She had no objection about training on her own for some time, maybe it was a good change. She could be more relaxed and be less nervous without him around criticizing the wrong moves. Although their relationship had gotten better since the chuunin exam three years ago, she was still found him scary. But not in a complete bad way, it's just being near him was so unnerving for her. She continued to watch him every so often on her way to the kitchen. The way he moved his body to train his punches and kick. He was so compatible for being an excellent ninja.

She was so lost in thoughts that she didn't know that he had noticed her and asked her or rather yelled something at her.

"I'm sorry, Neji-niisan. I didn't hear you," she was startled she was thinking about him just then and now here he is asking her things and she wasn't aware of his presence until he had spoken to her which she didn't know also what it was. "My mind was elsewhere." Hinata added timidly, managed to keep her voice steady somehow.

He walked to where she was standing, in the hallway. "I was just saying, I have to, yet again, cancel our training. I have to go to Wave Country tomorrow, the Hokage want me there for about a month to be her envoy."

"Oh…sure it's alright. I can train on my own, Neji-niisan. You have given me the basic moves and… um… don't worry, I'll do my best to accomplish it." She tried to give her most convincing smile to him but then lowered her head when she felt it falter. She always seemed to find something fascinating to stare at on the ground whenever he was around.

Can she really do it without him, without his guidance? But you wanted to change, right, to do something on your own. So this was something she could do to impress him, so Neji would know that she, Hinata, can do something great too or she was going to disappoint him if she didn't true to her words. No…no…no…don't think about the negatives now. You can do it… you can do it… you can do it… That's better.

"Hinata-sama, are you okay?" he saw her spacing out again. Did she have something troubling her mind?

"I'm sorry…"

"Is something wrong?" he asked her, was that concern emanated in his voice. No, surely she heard him wrong.

"No… it's nothing, I just… I will do my best, Neji-niisan." she bowed her head respectfully.

"Hinata-sama, please don't do that. I can't have the heir of the clan bow her head to me. It's inappropriate." he said sternly.

"But, Neji-niisan is also my sensei. Certainly I have to respect you. Thank you, Neji-niisan." she smiled warmly at him, her nervousness was somehow lessened seeing Neji's anxious face.

He returned the gesture and curved his lips, not quite a smile but it was not an unfriendly smirk.

"I was on my way to the kitchen to return this," she showed the lime flavored honey and the tea, "If you want, I still have some in my room."

"Thanks, but I still have some more moves to do." he nodded his head and went back to the ground to resume his training.

She watched him doing all of his super powerful technique, wondering was that the one thing she didn't have to be the heir everyone in the clan expected. The delicacy of his moves entranced her. Neji-niisan was so confident in his every move, the way he speak make people listen, really listen to him. He was able to master Kaiten on his own, despite the fact that the technique was to be taught to the main house members only. The more she thought his cousin achievement, the more she realized that she had found the role model for her 'be more confident action'.

tbc

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A/N: Here's chapter 3, I hope you like it!! The missions part was inspired by the actual anime series, where Naruto, Hinata and Chouji went on a mission together, but I forget the title ;

Enjoy and please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 4**

The night was still and quiet, an ideal condition for a good night rest. But something was just not right, Hyuuga Hinata couldn't close her eyes peacefully, her instinct told her to keep alert on her surrounding. She was laying safely in her bedroom, in her huge room, which located inside the Hyuuga mansion that mean no one could be stupid enough to perform an attack on her in a building full of highly skilled Hyuuga ninjas, right? But with that in mind she still wasn't convinced, changing different sleep position every now and then didn't do much help either. She only wanted to close her eyes and had a good sleep.

"Sleep…sleep…sleep…sleep now," she knew that was plain stupid and useless but she said that anyway, maybe it worked. She sighed, turning to the left now, facing the wall.

Then she heard it. A faint sound came from just outside her room. But maybe it was only a cat or a wind blowing on the trees on the garden. However, there was no cat kept in the main house and certainly no cat wandering around in her garden. Then she did all ninja or any curious person would do, she got up from the bed slowly and as quietly as possible, then walks to her bedroom window and was about to open it when she heard another distinctive noise. Someone was out there, she was sure of it. Braving herself, she opened the curtain a slight that when she felt the wind blow to her face, she barely able to dodge the sudden attack directed to her neck. _That was close._

She moved back to grab her weapon couch on table bedside table, taking her kunai, preparing and also braving herself to strike at the mysterious attacker. The attacker was fast, she could only dodge their assaults, didn't have the chance to strike back. He was good, she could tell it was a guy, even if it was dark now in the room she could saw the outline of the attacker. But what is this, another attempt to kidnap her. If that the case then…

Before she could finish her trailing thoughts, she saw fingers directed to her right hand, aimed at a specific point there. Jyuuken. Someone from the clan.

"Byakugan" she activated the Hyuuga clan bloodline limit and got a clear look on the attacker face. "Neji-niisan…what are you…doing…here?"

But the person he called Neji keep on attacking her with his excellent techniques. Hinata, felt a little taken a back finding out her attacker identity could only avoid the attack to her tanketsus.

"Neji-nii… what are you… stop it…" the plea was evident in her voice.

But the attacker kept on going, until one moment she move to attack this Neji guy but he moved faster and got a hold of her hand which was about to land a blow on his chest.

"Ahh…" she felt a hard tug on her hand and was pulled to his direction. She got a clear look on the attacker face. She could see him smirk, smugly.

"You should have recognized me earlier, Hinata-sama." His voice was smooth and firm.

"So it's really you, Neji-niisan. Why… what are you doing here?"

"Why are you surprised, Hinata-sama?" he spoke firmly and moved closer to her. "You should have guessed why I attack you. I'm a bit surprised actually that you didn't activate my cursed seal after knowing that it was me. Or are you forgetting the hand seal?"

"Of…c-course not. But I… think that you wouldn't endanger my life as you are assigned to be my sensei by father. And I… also believe you have your reason to do that" she said simply. "Is that right?"

"Yes, I have my own reason. But it disappoint me to see how much you slacking off in all these days when I'm not around to check on you, Hinata-sama. You could have been killed if I were intended to kill you or what if it was an enemy ninja who's aiming for the Hyuuga heir. So I beg of you to live up the Hyuuga name and stop being sloppy. Use Byakugan the moment you start a fight don't use it as your last resort." He told her, matter of factly. "If you keep on going like this you be easily killed."

Her eyes widen. Was this another weird dream she had, hallucination because of the lack of sleep? Her cousin, who came out of nowhere, attacked her and was now lecturing her for not being good enough. He just came back after a long mission, shouldn't they be greeting each other first, changing _how are you, _maybe have a cup of tea while sharing stories, and definitely not this kind of situation she was now in.

The said cousin was here, standing in her room, still grasping her hand and scolding her like a third year old kid. She tried to snatch her hand but his hold was firm.

"Neji-niisan, you… said that you have a long term mission and won't come back to Konoha for a month or more? But it's only been two weeks since you've been gone."

"I didn't go to Suna." He said simply. "I got replaced in the last minutes and assigned to a short term mission. That's why I can come home early. And when I got here I am curious about your training result for the last two weeks."

"Is this another kind of training or you get bored coming home and not finding a merry welcoming ceremony for you?" never had she felt this upset and angry at her cousin, or at anyone in particular that Hinata was surprised she could speak so fluently in front of him.

"It's training, of course. What do you expect, Hinata-sama?" if he was surprised by her way of non-stuttering-speaking, he didn't show it. "Say Hinata-sama, if I hit your tanketsu here (AN: he pressed to one spot on her hand a little bit harder). What would you do to prevent that?"

"Neji-niisan…you…" she didn't finish her sentence, glared angrily at Neji, as angry as a Hinata could get, then moved her right foot to kick at his shin, bold move actually. He evaded it of course, easily. She continued to attack with her free hand, sending countless hit to his direction, but he was able to nullify all her effort to land a punch or two on him, on his smug face, to be exact.

"Is that all you got Hinata-sama?"

"Please don't be so sure of yourself, Neji-niisan." Attacking with fury visible in her eyes, Hinata still wasn't able to free her hand and the fact that it was now hurting because Neji pulled it here and there to avoid getting hit by her.

"You look more lively now, Hinata-sama. Maybe I should tease you more often." He told her casually while dodging her attack.

Her breath was ragged. And yet, he was still standing in front of her, not a single sweat adorned his forehead.

"You better rest now." He said, suddenly ending their not-so-sweet encounter.

"What…why… I still can fight you, Neji." She said it daringly, forgetting his name title.

"Really." He let go of her hand. She rubbed it instantly. "Rest, Hinata-sama. If you're feeling so eager to fight with me then, we'll continue in the morning."

"But, I'm not tired."

"But I am. Just back from a mission, remember? Or are you so glad to see me that my little visit today isn't enough for you?"

The desire to punch his smug face was beyond her imagination. "Wha….what are you saying?"_ I'm not going to beat that smug face of yours tomorrow for sure._

"Good night, Hinata-sama." He said. He walk to her window and was about to go when she said, "You could always use the door, Neji-niisan."

"It's nii-san again now, eh?"

"Wha… what… I'm sorry." She bowed her head, couldn't look him in the eyes. And a few minutes ago she was daring him to fight and acting all cool, what happen now?

"Don't be, Hinata-sama. I like it, when you fight with so much ferocity and strength like that."

"I…Neji-niisan, thank you." She bowed again. "And welcome home." She added, after realizing that he just got back from Suna.

"Thanks, Hinata-sama. Go to bed. Now!! Or you won't be able to kick my ass tomorrow." Neji said then turned to leave.

After the sudden so called training, she found it was harder to close her eyes. So she just laying around in her bed, just like before Neji came to train her. He must be tired too, but he came all the way from mission and commenced attack to her without as much as saying hello.

Did her father order him to do that? So that she always stay alert even when she feel safe and no possibility of an assault to her, the heir of the Hyuuga clan?

Then she would like to thank him, tomorrow. For all the trouble he did to make her stronger, although that wasn't an entirely an easy job.

With that thought, she felt asleep. Her hand rubbed at the place where Neji had hold during their fight.

* * *

The sound of someone knocking on her door woke her up from her much needed sleep. She wanted to just ignore the intrusion and continued to sleep, but the person was persistent. The once knocking sound now turned into banging.

"In a minute." She finally managed to voice her answer. The banging sound stopped.

She walked sleepily to the door and opened it only to find her sister, Hanabi. "Isn't too early to bang on other people door so loudly, Hanabi?"

"Neesan, it's not too early, it's 8.20 now. You should get ready now, coz father wants to speak with you." She went inside the roo m and sat on her bed. "What? You should be quick, you know." She said when she felt her gaze on her.

"Nothing. What is it that father wanted to talk to me about?"

"Like I know. Come on go clean up. Or are you going to meet him like that?"

Hinata looked at her reflection on the mirror and saw sleepy white eyes staring back at her, uncombed indigo hair and rumpled pajamas. "Of course not." Then she headed towards the bathroom.

"Okay, I'll tell father you'll come soon."

"Okay." She said before closing the bathroom door. It only take a while to wash her face, it would be nicer if she could take a bath but it took more time and her father wasn't the most patient person.

* * *

"Good morning, father." She greeted her father.

Her father nodded her head. "Sit, Hinata."

"Yes, father." She sat in front of his father.

"What took you so long, Hinata? I was expecting to see you sooner."

"I'm sorry if I'm late, father. I was just woken up when Hanabi came to my room and I need more time to get ready." She bowed her head. "And she said that you have something important to tell me father."

"Yes, Hinata. Listen to me now." He began his speech and looked at her all serious and business like. "You know that you are going to be the head of the Hyuuga clan and you I wish that you could be better than me leading this clan. We can live a peaceful life now, but one must not get reckless and never forget to always improve your skills. Both in fighting and the way of leading the clan. Do you understand that, Hinata."

Somehow she always knew that her duty to be the head of the clan wasn't going to be easy. But to be reminded about it every now and then was making her boring to. "Yes, I do father."

"Good. You know that our clan is the strongest in Konoha and we keep our loyalty to this village as well. But there are many ninja villages that have an interest in our bloodline limit as well."

She nodded her head, knowing the fact full well and saying her _yes._

"Neji had given me the report about your improvement. He said that if you are determined and motivated you could do your best. So I hope you could do that."

"I'll try…no… I'll do my best father." _Hopefully_, she added it inwardly.

"That's exactly what I want to hear from you, Hinata. As an heir of the Hyuuga clan you'd be targeted by our clan enemies from other village. You know about the kidnap initiation towards you when you were three, we must never let something like that happen again. So for the sake of yourself and also the clan I ask you to be more cautious when you were away on mission outside Konoha. Actually I wanted to request a special permission from the Godaime so that you will be doing your ninja duty here, in Konoha. But, I also want you to enjoy your time while you still can and the chance to see the world outside this village."

"Thank you for your consideration, father." She smiled a little, feeling grateful that his father wasn't being overprotective to her.

"I believe that you have training scheduled for today. You may leave now."

"Thank you, father. Have a nice day." Her father nodded his appreciation then she bowed her head and exited the room.

"I take that was pretty much of an encouragement, don't you think?" Hiashi spoke, then the shoji door behind him opened and Neji walked in the room and sat beside Hiashi.

"Yes, Hiashi-sama. Thank you. I hope Hinata-sama will be more aware about her situation." He bowed his head. "I'll take my leave now, Hiashi-sama. I have an apprentice to train."

* * *

AN: Yosh, the fourth installment is finally here. The longest one, so far. It took me a while to write this chapter because I was distracted by Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny and Yzak Jule, yes they are **that** good. Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated! 


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I'm sorry for the late update. No excuses, I'm a lazy bum. Gomen ne? Btw, please enjoy!!

Disclaimer: No, Naruto isn't mine and will never be.

* * *

It was just a normal Sunday morning when Hinata started her morning training. She hasn't started yet, in fact she was just standing in the training ground waiting for her sensei.

Her father's lecture was still fresh in her mind. She didn't want to disappoint her family, especially her father. She couldn't do something that would mar the Hyuuga name with shame. That would be bad for her, more lesson and lecture about the dignity of a Hyuuga should have. She felt somewhat lucky to be born in the Hyuuga family, the strongest clan in Konoha, but being an heiress to this formidable clan is another story. The other member of the clan can have a little freedom by doing mission in another country, but she was the future head of the clan. The clan won't let the future heiress running around doing missions to faraway country, is that for her own good, she couldn't tell. So her last mission was when she was fourteen, that was two years ago, before the chuunin exam. Even after the chuunin exam over and she became one herself, her father, the current head of the clan would prefer to have her around so he could watch her progress and berated her if she make some kind of slip-up.

Thus in her sixteen years of living in this world she began to understand that she couldn't let go of her family circle. She is a Hyuuga and will remain as one. Her clan existence is her existence. And she came to an undeniable conclusion that she would rule it one day in the future and it's her destiny.

The thing that she truly wanted to do was to serve the family as the heiress, be a good leader for the clan or anything that involving the clan and the people in it. Other things, she just pushed it on the far back of her mind. It was best, or so she thought.

She saw her cousin, his private _sensei_, walking to her direction. She gave a faint a smile and greeted him and he only nodded in return.

"Follow me, Hinata-sama" Neji ordered and he leaped to one of the roof and disappeared from her sight.

"W-what?! Neji-niisan, wait." She had no other choice but to follow him. He was far ahead of her but she could still follow him. After a few minutes of chasing she was finally able to catch up to him.

"Neji-niisan, where are we going?" she asked him.

"Training." He said curtly, and then elevated his speed. Puzzled, she followed him nonetheless.

They've been going for awhile now, they almost reach the outer forest of Konoha's border. _Just, where is he taking me? Should I go back, but I believe him._ At that time she could feel he slowed his pace, and finally stopped a few seconds later. She wanted to ask him why they were here, but decided not to so she wait for him to explain it all.

He was quiet for a moment then, "Do you know why we're here now, Hinata-sama?"

"Of course not. Is this related with the training, Neji-niisan?"

"Yes, this is some how related to the training." He said thoughtfully. "Behind this clearing is a waterfall. I guess you already know that. And I want you to train your new jutsu there because you say that it's more convenient training with the water splash."

Waterfall, now she remembered. She used to train under the spray of waterfall. She would hit the water specks so quickly, no, more like as quickly as she can so that no water would reach her shirt and soak it. But as long as she had practice the jutsu she wasn't able to evade all the tiny water specks, so her shirt was always damp somehow, but what kind of people is able to do just that. Then again she never thought of training in this waterfall, in her opinion the place is to open, only a small number of trees hiding it from prying eyes and it was also to close to the border line.

"But… now?"

"Yes, we come here for training, right?"

Neji walked to the middle of the pond standing on the water surface and waited for Hinata to join him in the not so usual training ground.

Hinata was a bit reluctant about the idea of training with Neji under the waterfall but followed him anyway.

Hinata prepared her Jyuuken stance and so did Neji. She waited if Neji was going to attack first but when he didn't she started on her first move to punch to aim for his vitals.

They moved graciously, just like the Jyuuken steps which emphasize deadly delicacy. The water splashed around them, everything was in slow motion when they engage in this battle, for Hinata it was a mean to show that she was skilled, competent to fight him equally. But are they really equal, or she was still under his great shadow. Her main goal wasn't to beat him, yet. At least now she would aim to be at the same level as he was. She was a simple person, really, she wasn't going to have an oath to herself if she didn't have the change to fulfill it.

"Hinata-sama, is dodging all you can do? Attack me like last night with passion burn to your eyes. Is kicking my ass too hard for you?" Neji moved his hand precisely to block her attack. "Finally." He smirked.

Hinata felt the rage swell inside her, she admired this person who was willing trained her, nonetheless his never ending remark about how weak she was annoyed her to no end.

She stopped her moves, measuring the distance between them, he was undeniably looking very pleased with himself. She hurled at him with speed, her fingers aiming for his heart, wanted him to feel how her heart ache now. She was sent flying back as he simply took his two fingers and pushed her away. She fell on the water surface soaking her pants.

"Learn, to control yourself, Hinata-sama. Don't let my taunting words get you."

"I know that, Neji-niisan." She panted, tried to give him the evilest glare she could muster.

He gave offered her a hand to help her standing, which she accepted, cautiously.

He smirked. "You're not afraid of me, are you?"

"Wh-why, would I be?" Neji-niisan, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why do you agree to help me with my training? I know father talked to become my sensei but you could have said no. You're a jounin, surely you were busier and as an ANBU…"

"Who's the better teacher than me." He cut her off with ease. "Now…now…let's not think about trivial things like that. I want to make you stronger, that's my mission."

"Y-your mission… from my father?" Hinata responded nervously.

"Hn…let's continue our training…" He said, ending their little conversation.

They were once again standing face to face. He prepared his stance then directed her fingers to her, which she dodged quickly. He was moving aside of her, sent another attack her. She deflected it, managed to catch his right wrist before it went to her midsection. He turned around and moved behind her, his other hand going for her neck, she leaned her head to the side, not quite missed his strike, she could still feel the wind blow on her cheek and it sting.

She yelped and lost her footing and had to land on the water twice that day.

"Is that supposed to be hurt?" He looked down at her from his standing position, didn't lend a hand like the last time.

"No." she lied, wincing slightly. "I-I was just surprised."

"That's the key to win a battle. Calculate their moves and finish them with a quick blow."

"I-I know that. But it's just…"

"What?"

"It's just that…you're the enemy. A-and you're already this skillful and talented and a genius of our clan and…and I don't know what else to do to fight you…please you with my average ability." Her voice cracked.

He was taken aback by her statement. Her quiet cousin was pouring her despair to him. They weren't close or anything, even after the reconciliation he had with the main family they didn't talk much. He was often away on missions and she had her own friends and activities. It was only a few months ago that he was appointed by Hiashi-sama to supervise her training. His first response was to object, but it was Hiashi-sama, the head of the Hyuuga clan so he had but to comply with his command.

He crouched down to level with her. "Hinata-sama, please don't think so high of me and so low of yourself." He said calmly. "You have your good aspects with yourself, you know."

She looked up to him. "What aspects?"

He smiled a little. "For once, your determination. Your spirit. Your kindess. All of them make the real you. You were good with people and a caring person. I could never be as carefree as you are, not even with my team mates."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. They are nice and all but…" He smirked, but not his usual icy ones. "We're talking about you, not me."

"But I want to kn… We can talk about you too." She said timidly.

"Maybe some other time." He glanced at her then pull her to stand with him. "It's noon. Let's go home."

"Alright."

"You need to dry yourself, if you don't wanna catch cold." He admonished.

"Okay." She said softly. "Thank you, Neji-niisan."

He smiled warmly. "You're welcome, Hinata-sama."

* * *

I was determined to post it today, no special reason just want to please you guys with the new chapter. I know it seems rushed and the fighting scenes suck. And please don't hate me for making Hinata totally self-doubting in this chapter. There isn't much progress in their relationship yet, so please bear with me. 


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